ICON | Kathy Marshall

Photo of Kathy Marshall, a.k.a. The Queen of Surf Guitar dueling with Eddie and The Showmen via The Sound of Surf."She was a 13 year old girl namedKathy Marshall. She didn't have her own band, but she did sit in with several of the top bands of the day. Kathy was a frequent member of legendary surf bandsEddie and the Showmen, TheBlazers, and TheCrossfires(who later became The Turtles). There were no releases with her guitar on them, but her double picking talent made quite a stir in those days. Her on-stage rivalry with Eddie Bertrandwas a major draw duringEddie and the Showmen's peak year as house band at theRetail Clerk's Hallin 1964. Once, Kathy even played with Dick Dale. He introduced her, and then she broke into The Wedge. Her fire caused him to first step back and watch, then take off his guitar and stare, then finally throw up his hands and walk off stage."—Reverb Nation

5 comments:

Thank you SO much for this post, Lizzie! I'm thrilled that more women will learn about Kathy's tremendous talent as a guitarist! She's MY type of tomboy, for sure! xo- Rebecca at Have Love, Will Travel

I think there is, Anna, but as far as I can tell, it's not floating around the general web at this point. If you refer back to the link for "Sound of the Surf", an in-progress documentary film about the early surf music scene, it appears that some moving footage of Kathy exists and will be part of the doc! I can't wait!